The attack delivered during the moonlit hours was sharp, decisive, and,
being unexpected, was at first little short of a massacre. Yelling with
wild, fiendish delight, my companions, Zoraida at their head, swept
onward through the gate of Agadez up to the great, gloomy portals of the
Fada, ruthlessly shooting down those who attempted to bar their passage,
and engaging in desperate mortal combat with the armed guards, who
offered stubborn resistance.
Our success, however, was brief, for our reinforcements had
unfortunately not reached us. Recovering quickly from the first shock,
the alarm was at once sounded throughout the city. All those capable of
bearing arms united to repel us, and as the janissaries in strong bodies
poured forth from the Palace gate, the fray soon became fierce and
bloody. The Ennitra struggled with desperate courage begotten by the
knowledge that they were surrounded by hundreds of the defenders, who
would slaughter them and torture those who fell into their hands as
prisoners. Knowing not a man would survive if they were defeated, they
fought on, madly reckless in their insatiable desire for blood, as with
their keen knives they dealt deathblows at those who were defending the
gateway, being in turn slashed and maimed by the keen scimitars of the
janissaries, until the roads ran with blood, and our horses leaped and
stumbled over piles of dead and wounded.
The fight was desperate; the carnage horrible.
On every side men yelled and struggled, while the ill-fated ones fell to
earth and died with curses upon their lips. The scene was awful, almost
demoniacal, for the shrieks of the vanquished, mingled with the shouts
of the victors and the continuous rattle of rifles, drowned the clash of
arms.
Amid the desperate conflict I kept as close to Zoraida as possible,
though the Ennitra pressed around her, fiercely repelling those who
attempted to capture their banner. The Daughter of the Sun, sitting on
her sable stallion, with face firm set, gripped in her bejewelled hand a
small curved dagger, which from time to time she flourished over her
head, urging her outlaw cavaliers to valiant deeds. Time after time her
slim, supple figure showed in the very thickest of the melee, as with
desperate rushes we dashed onward towards the great horse-shoe arch
which gave entrance to the Fada, being, alas! on each occasion met with
such strenuous opposition that we were compelled to fall back again,
leaving dozens of corpses strewn upon the roadway. Men and horses were
hacked in a manner truly horrible by the scimitars of the Sultan's
guard, and once or twice Zoraida herself had a narrow escape of death.
At moments of extremest peril she behaved in a manner that would have
done credit to any trained soldier. Once, as I engaged a well-armed
janissary hand to hand in mortal combat, I saw that the guards had
broken the ring of fierce warriors who had formed themselves around our
standard and dashed into the centre of the group, causing a frightful
conflict. Fighting at such close quarters, the long-barrelled guns of
the Ennitra were useless, therefore they were compelled to use their
knives and swords. Just as, by a lucky cut, I had slashed the right arm
of my adversary, I turned to witness a gigantic guard of the harem rush
up to Zoraida, brandishing his heavy scimitar, a formidable weapon that
I had often burnished and whetted.
"Die, thou accursed son of Eblis!" he shrieked loudly, bringing down his
broad, curved blade, that gleamed for a second in the moonbeams; but the
fearless leader of the marauders had already become aware of her danger,
and, lifting her left hand until it was only a foot from his great
brutal countenance, fired her old-fashioned pistol full into his face.
The sword fell from his paralysed fingers, and back he staggered next
second with half his skull blown away.
Her escape was almost miraculous, yet she betrayed not the slightest
trace of fear, although the rust of dust had settled upon the mirror of
her beauty. Without a second glance at the body of her slain enemy, she
sat her black horse firmly and well, re-primed her pistol, and then
fought on with calm courage, heedless of the fact that those whom she
led were slowly but surely being swept into eternity by the
well-organised opposition they were encountering. Again and again the
soldiers of Abd-el-Kerim closed around us in a frantic endeavour to
capture the green banner that swayed gloomy and ominous in the brilliant
night; but with dogged persistency our men, better armed than their
adversaries, fired their rifles with deadly effect, and stood together
prepared to fight on desperately until the end. Many were the deeds of
cool daring I witnessed during that midnight hour, while men in white
burnouses, looking almost ghostly in the deep, enmassed shadows cast by
the high walls of the Fada, struggled with the gorgeously-attired
retainers of the Sultan.
Unfortunate wretches, mortally wounded, struggled on till they sank of
sheer exhaustion and were trampled to death, and their fellows, some
horribly mutilated, with dark, ugly stains upon their burnouses, fought
again ere they died, killing their enemies in a frenzy of mad revenge.
The encounter grew more desperate every moment. Our hands and faces
were besmirched with blood, as larger and more impassable grew the
barrier of the slain.
Hadj Absalam had miscalculated the time which must be occupied by the
march of our reinforcements, and we had made the assault too early!
Again the heavy gate of the Fada opened; again there emerged another
body of troops. For a moment they halted, then there was a bright,
blinding flash, as into our midst a volley was poured, by which a dozen
men around me fell from their horses dead. Breathlessly I glanced
towards Zoraida, half fearful lest a bullet should strike her, but
breathed more freely when I saw her unharmed, still brandishing her
knife aloft and shouting words of encouragement to the desperate group
of horsemen pressing around her.
"Courage! brothers, courage!" she shouted. "Keep thine enemies at bay,
for ere long thou shalt seek revenge within yonder walls. Give no
quarter. Let thy strong arms sweep to earth the gilded popinjays of the
Sultan!"
"Behold!" cried Amagay, commanding the janissaries, and speaking in a
voice that sounded loud above the din of battle. "Lo! the horseman who
commandeth the Ennitra seemeth frail, like a woman! What trickery is
this? Falter not, fight on! Let not thy scimitars return unto their
scabbards until all have fallen!"
Responding to these words, the janissaries made an onward rush that
almost overpowered us. With great difficulty, however, we managed to
make a stand against it, firing our rifles and slashing at our
adversaries in frantic desperation, just managing at length to repulse
them sufficiently to prevent our banner from falling into their hands.
A serious attack had been made upon Zoraida and Hadj Absalam, but both
had struggled with redoubled energy, succeeding in warding off the
repeated murderous blows levelled at them.
Those moments were critical ones. Each of us felt that a second rush as
powerful as the first would totally annihilate us.
Our fate, indeed, seemed sealed.
Just as our enemies fell back a little, I managed to draw so close to
Zoraida that my hand brushed her silken robe. As I reined up, she
shouted an order, a dozen rifles rang out, and in a moment the conflict
became even more fiercely contested than before. One by one, however,
our men dropped their arms and fell from their horses, never to mount
again, and I could see that, with the exception of the couple of dozen
old men whom we had left on the previous day in charge of the women,
camels, and tents, nearly three-fourths of our body had been killed or
wounded.
Beside Zoraida I sat in the bright moonbeams, anxiously on the alert.
When I saw how critical was our position, I became regardless of her
injunctions, and cried--
"It is useless! Let us fly and save ourselves!"
With a strange fire in her beautiful eyes, she turned quickly upon me.
"No," she answered calmly. "Have courage, O Cecil! Dost thou not
remember what stake thou hast in the result of this attack?"
Again the rifles of the defenders belched forth their ominous red
flashes, as amid the din and rattle a perfect hail of bullets whistled
about us; yet she seemed to shed a charmed halo around her, for neither
Hadj Absalam nor myself were struck. With teeth firmly set, we
struggled on, cutting, slashing, striking death at every blow, amid a
scene indescribably weird and ghastly, until each well-delivered volley
of the defenders felled dozens of our band to earth, and I knew that the
slaughter of my undaunted companions-in-arms would be complete.
The fortune of the fight trembled in the balance. Zoraida's cool,
inspiring demeanour and encouraging words stirred the nomadic Ennitra to
bold, fearless deeds, and many were the feats of prowess the brigands of
the plains in that dark hour accomplished. My life was saved by one of
the faithful followers who had assisted Halima and myself to escape. A
gigantic, fierce-eyed negro slave of the Fada had rushed towards me,
brandishing his crooked _jambiyah_, and I had fired, missing him. Next
moment he closed with me, gripping my throat with long, sinewy fingers,
as with a demoniacal, exultant laugh he raised his knife to plunge it
deep into my breast, when Halima's slave, fortunately noticing my peril,
raised his sword and clave my enemy's skull so swiftly that the warm
blood spurted forth over my hands. Without uttering a sound, the dark,
evil-visaged brute who intended to kill me staggered and fell back stone
dead, while I remained breathless but unharmed.
I gasped a word of thanks to my deliverer, but, shrugging his shoulders,
he merely answered, "The Ennitra assist those who fight with them side
by side, be they Infidels or Allah's chosen. Thou art our friend and
the friend of the Lalla Halima, therefore we are loyal unto thee, and
require no thanks for obeying that which is written."
"May Allah honour thee!" I said, fervently thankful, fully realising
how narrowly I had once again escaped a violent end.
"And may He be as a lamp shining upon thy path," the man murmured in
pious response.
In the desperate onslaught made a few minutes later by the soldiers of
the Sultan, now reinforced by a squadron of horsemen who had approached
with all speed from the opposite side of the city, Zoraida and I found
ourselves together in the thick of the fray. Grappling with their
enemies, the Ennitra, with all their bellicose instincts now thoroughly
aroused, closed with them in a terrible death-struggle. Each
desert-wanderer, determined to sell his life dearly, bade defiance to
the great body of janissaries, eunuchs, palace guards, and soldiers,
and, armed to the teeth, cut, thrust, and charged, pressing the
defenders hard, bearing the brunt of the fight, and showing a bold front
in a manner truly astonishing.
With their white drapery flowing in the wind, as they spurred on their
horses in repeated efforts to successfully storm the gate of the Fada,
my companions fought like demons. But the defenders held together in
solid phalanx, and repulsed us time after time, until many more of our
bold, undaunted horsemen lay weltering in their blood.
Again and again Zoraida, whose slim form still showed under the dark
standard of the outlaws in the very midst of the desperate conflict,
shouted words of encouragement, and each time we swept forward upon the
stubborn ranks of the janissaries, only to be ignominiously driven back
under a withering fusillade of bullets. Hadj Absalam's gruff voice,
raised in desperate imprecation, roared above the din of the fray, but
he was unheeded. They obeyed only the commands of the Daughter of the
Sun, whom they still implicitly believed would lead them to victory.
In deadly embrace we fought with ferocious strength, grappling our
adversaries, and using our knives with horrible fiendishness.
Janissaries and eunuchs, slashed and mutilated by the dexterous blows of
my dauntless fellow-horsemen, fell groaning to earth, staining the
burnouses of the outlaws with their blood; but even then, when slight
success aroused redoubled energy within us, any hope of the investment
of the Fada still seemed utterly forlorn.
Suddenly above the noise and tumult there was a loud rumbling, which at
first I thought was distant thunder.
"Hearken!" eagerly shouted Zoraida, at that moment only a few feet from
me. "Give ear unto me! Lo! it is the rolling of the Drum of Nar!
Fight on! Our brothers are advancing! For evil men Hell, the Worst
life; for the righteous the Best Mind, Paradise!"
With a shrill whoop, the Ennitra took up the last sentence as a war-cry,
and, with courage strengthened by the knowledge that at last assistance
was at hand, dashed forward wildly towards the great arched gateway,
many of them being in their reckless onslaught impaled upon the
defenders' spears. Then, ere five minutes had passed, with loud,
reassuring shouts, mingling with the monotonous thumping of the Drum of
Victory, the three bodies of the Ennitra, who, it afterwards appeared,
had effected a junction near Tanou-n-Toungaiden, made a vigorous
demonstration, by which, in the course of a quarter of an hour, the
defenders became hemmed in between two galling fires.
Closely pressed, they were at last, after holding out with dogged
resistance until the first flush of dawn, driven back against the gloomy
walls of the palace, and there slaughtered without mercy.
The tide of battle turned in favour of the brigands.
There ensued a revolting massacre, from which Zoraida, breathless and
panting, turned and shut out its sight by covering her eyes with her
delicate hands. The soldiers of the Ahir, finding themselves
overpowered by the dreaded band whose vengeance was feared throughout
the Soudan, threw down their arms and craved for quarter. But the
Ennitra had given rein to their savage bloodthirstiness, and no words
from their beautiful leader could avert that fierce, horrible brutality
which caused them to be held in dread. Upon their knees proud
janissaries of the Sultan Abd-el-Kerim sank in the blood of their
comrades, crying hoarsely for mercy, but none was shown them.
Dismounted, the men whom Zoraida had rallied and incited to victory
threw themselves upon their adversaries, butchering them in cold blood.
Murder, mutilation, and torture were rife everywhere in the vicinity of
the Fada, and as the bright streaks of saffron spread in the east,
heralding the sun's coming, the massacre was awful.
"Spare the Mesallaje!" cried Zoraida, pointing to the square minaret
that loomed dark against the grey of dawn. "Defile not the Great
Mosque! The curse of the One of Might rest upon any who dare to enter
the holy place with blood upon their hands!"
Quickly the order, shouted aloud, was passed from mouth to mouth, and a
few moments later, Zoraida, as she rode swiftly past me, exclaimed--
"With the Mosque free from attack, thou wilt of a surety find the _imam_
thou seekest. When it is time I will tell thee;" and away she galloped
to where a large force of our people, climbing over the great heap of
slain, were battering in the heavy gate of the Fada, that for centuries
had withstood all attack.
At last, by dint of supreme effort, the door was burst open, and with
loud, victorious yells, there rushed into the first of the great courts
a legion of ferocious brutes, who ruthlessly murdered those who stood in
their path. Guards, servants, courtiers, and eunuchs were ferreted from
their hiding-places and slaughtered with horrible ferocity, as, headed
by Hadj Absalam under his green standard, the thieving hordes swept
onward through the luxuriant palace to the Court of the Eunuchs, with
which I was so familiar. Then, storming the three great doors of the
Sultan's harem, they at last gained that most luxuriant portion of the
Fada.
Zoraida drew back, as if fearing to enter, and for a few seconds stood
beside me in the gateway trembling. Summoning courage at last, she
allowed herself to be carried on over the bloodstained floors of
polished sardonyx and agate into the great arcaded courts, with their
columns of marble, plashing fountains, and cool palms. Huddled together
in little groups stood the beautiful prisoners of the Sultan, with fear
depicted on their handsome faces, as if they had received forewarning of
their untimely end. Uttering fiendish yells, the flint-hearted Ennitra,
intoxicated by success, bounded towards them, and the awful scenes of
loot and massacre that ensued I will not attempt to describe. Suffice
it to say that no mercy was shown even to the women. Their jewels were
torn from them, fingers on which were valuable rings being
unceremoniously hacked off, and their slim white throats and bare
breasts were cut and slashed with hellish fiendishness. A few of the
more beautiful were chosen by Hadj Absalam to grace his own harem, but
the remainder were simply butchered with merciless ruthlessness, the
jewels filched from them being flung unceremoniously into a great heap
in the centre of the gorgeous Courts of Love, and over it a dozen of the
outlaws mounted guard.
The massacre was sickening. Piercing screams of the women as they fell
under the knives of their pitiless captors echoed along the great
arcades, mingling with the jeers of the outlaws and the hoarse cries of
the dying. Blood ran across the polished floors, and, trickling into
the fountains, tinged their waters, the walls of marble were bespattered
with it, and the once-beautiful Courts of Love were rendered hideous by
their piles of mutilated corpses, and became a ghastly Inferno, to be
remembered with a fearsome shudder until one's dying day.
Horrified by the terrible sights I had witnessed, I endeavoured to draw
back, but with loud shouts the crowd, excited to madness by their work
of murder and pillage, made a sudden rush to the Sultan's pavilion, and
involuntarily I was carried onward.
"Seek Abd-el-Kerim!" they cried. "Kill him! kill him!" Through the
harem-garden, along the edge of the great lake, and on into the Hall of
the White Divan they pressed. On entering, we found under the great
baldachin of silk and gold the young Sultan, with his Grand Vizier
Mukhtar and Amagay, the chief of his eunuchs, on either side, standing
erect, regarding our entrance with regal air and unflinching eye. He
had drawn his scimitar and was prepared to defend himself.
"What meaneth this intrusion?" he cried, the fierce fire of anger in his
face. "Verily hast thou rushed into the Wrath, and the blow of
destruction shall descend upon thee!"
"Spare us!" cried Mukhtar, rushing forward, trembling, cringing coward
that he was.
"We are thy slaves," added Amagay, throwing away his sword. "Have mercy
upon us! Take what thou mayest, but slay us not!"
The fierce, dishevelled band, heedless of all appeal, dashed onward, led
by Hadj Absalam. A dozen men rushed forward to dispatch the Sultan, but
the latter, wielding his jewelled scimitar, felled the first outlaw who
approached, inflicting a mortal wound. Next moment, however, the
youthful ruler of the Ahir, pulled unceremoniously off the divan, was
struggling powerless in the hands of his ragged conquerors.
For his curses they cared naught, but at a signal from Hadj Absalam, who
had in the meantime mounted to the deposed monarch's place, Labakan
stepped forward, armed with the executioner's heavy _doka_, which he had
just found while searching for plunder.
"Let him die!" exclaimed Hadj Absalam briefly.
"Ah! spare me, O conqueror!" gasped the unhappy youth. "It is written--
it is written that the blessings of Allah rest upon the merciful! Spare
me!"
But the Sultan, pale and haggard, was quickly forced to his knees upon
the polished pavement before his own divan and held with his hands
behind his back. Piteous were his appeals, but they softened not his
captors' murderous, sanguinolent hearts. The great diamond aigrette was
ruthlessly torn from his turban and handed to the robber Sheikh, and
then, as the men held him down firmly, Labakan stepped forward, and,
swinging the _doka_ with both hands, smote off his head at a single
blow.
The body, quickly despoiled of its jewels, was kicked aside into a
corner, while the head, mounted on a spear, was sent forth into the city
in order to strike awe into the hearts of those citizens who refused to
submit to the conquerors.
Mukhtar and Amagay were also decapitated in like manner and without
ceremony by the villainous Labakan, who, judging from the self-satisfied
grin upon his sinister countenance, delighted in the gruesome duties of
his self-assumed office. Once he glanced at me and smiled. Doubtless
it would have afforded him considerable pleasure to strike off my head
by the same means.
In their frenzied thirst for blood, many of my companions, rushing
onward, pillaged the Sultan's private apartments and the Treasury.
Thence they went to the Hall of Audience.
Here a band of janissaries at first made a desperate stand, but they
were eventually butchered, even to the last man.
Through the city wildly yelling bands of the Ennitra were rushing with
fire and sword. The hours were spent by them in murder and pillage, in
mutilation, in every conceivable kind of nameless atrocity. Into the
houses they rushed, penetrating to the apartments of the women,
murdering the occupants, and carrying off all that was valuable. Deeds
of violence and lawlessness were committed with cruel brutality and
heartlessness; women and children were slaughtered before the eyes of
husbands and fathers, who in their turn were also murdered in cold
blood. Many went down on their knees, supplicating with heads bent to
the ground, crying for quarter, and in that attitude were butchered
mercilessly by their conquerors. In the open space called the
Azarmadarangh between four and five hundred young men and women had by
noon been collected to be sold as slaves, and as each hour passed,
others were added to the number. Some attempted to escape, and were
shot down in consequence, but the majority gave themselves up to their
fate, and squatted on the ground silent and morose. The women wept and
wailed, but the men made no complaint. They had fought, Fortune had
deserted them, and their Sultan's head was being carried around Agadez
to the monotonous thumping of the ancient Drum of Nar. Upon the
pinnacles and minarets the great vultures of dirty-greyish plumage with
naked necks were awaiting impatiently the feast that the marauders had
provided for them, and the captives, noticing them, regarded their
presence as an omen that the power of the Sultans of the Ahir had been
broken for ever.
In Abd-el-Kerim's pavilion, where I remained, Hadj Absalam, with his
banner planted over the great canopy, was seated upon the divan with
Zoraida at his side. While the work of plunder was proceeding
throughout the Fada, the apartment was filled to overflowing by a crowd
of the less excited of his bloodthirsty band. Labakan having taken his
stand on the other side of the chieftain, resting upon his great
bloodstained executioner's sword, Hadj Absalam at length commenced an
address to his people. But the latter, after he had uttered half a
dozen sentences, mainly egotistical of his own prowess, refused him
further hearing, crying--
"Let our Daughter of the Sun speak, O Mirror of Virtue! We trusted her
and were not afraid. Let her have speech with us!"
"Speak then," he said, annoyed, turning to Zoraida. "May the fear of
thy Ruler lie upon thy lips."
Casting a quick inquiring glance at him, she smiled pleasantly upon
those around her, saying--
"Lo! thy Sheikh, thy Branch of Honour, hath led thee through these
courts of the Fada--wherefore dost thou not honour him?"
"It was thy voice alone that rallied us when we were failing, and guided
us at the critical moment unto a victory great and glorious!" cried one
of the warriors, a statement that was hailed with extreme approbation.
Gracefully she bowed in recognition of the compliment, saying, "What I
have done hath been in accordance with the promise given unto me. Once
again have I led thee to victory, though it be for the last time."
A murmur of dissent went round, and a voice inquired the reason.
"Because," she said,--"Because thou hast conquered the City of the Ahir,
therefore thou hast no further need of my services--"
"I have. Thou shalt now become Pearl of my Harem!" Hadj Absalam
interrupted, with a scowl of displeasure upon his furrowed face.
This declaration produced a sensation almost electrical, and it seemed
that, even though the prospect might be distasteful to them, none dare
challenge the autocrat. Zoraida, too, turned pale, clenched her tiny
hands, and bit her lips to the blood.
"Brothers," she gasped, her voice faltering, "I, Daughter of the Sun, am
thy sister. Oft-times have I risked my life to ensure success in thy
forays. Art thou still loyal unto me?"
"We are," they answered, as with one voice.
"Then I fear not mine enemies," she exclaimed, drawing herself up and
flinging back her blood--besmirched silken robe with a defiant air.
"To-day thou hast broken the power of a great Sultan and beheaded him;
thou hast invested the palace that all thought impregnable; thou hast
captured many slaves, and thou hast secured plunder almost as valuable
as the Treasure of Askia, which lieth hidden. I led thee hither, but
the tenure of my leadership is at an end. Bow now unto the authority of
thy Sheikh, and treat me only as one who hath rendered thee a service."
"It is but fitting that, now we have conquered Agadez, thou shouldst
become Malieah of the Ahir," Hadj Absalam protested. "I appeal to thee,
my people. Do I give voice unto thy wish?" The armed men looked at one
another in hesitation. Then one, a big, hulking, half-witted fellow,
stepped forward, and, turning back to his companions, exclaimed--
"Is not the beauty of our Daughter of the Sun known throughout the Great
Desert; is she not our Lady of Wondrous Beauty, with whom none can
compare? Did not the great Sultan, Mulai Hassan, of Fez, offer one
hundred bags of gold for her? Why should she not grace our people by
becoming the chief wife of our wise and just ruler? She would still
retain her power to bring victory unto us, and would at the same time
reflect upon us perpetually the light of her beauteous countenance."
Labakan grinned. It was, I felt sure, one of his devilish schemes.
"Are any of the houris whom thou hast spared in yonder harem half as
beautiful as the Lalla Zoraida?" he asked. "Surely she with the
loveliest face should become Queen?"
"Hearken unto me, O my brothers!" Zoraida cried anxiously. "Until this
moment thou hast granted me freedom. It is a privilege that as long as
I live I will not forego; if thou forcest upon me this marriage,
remember that my self-sought death will fall upon thee as a curse, swift
and terrible."
"Thy beauty designateth thee as our Sultana!" they answered, influenced
by the arguments of the wily Labakan and the others. "Thou must become
Queen of the Courts of Love!"
"And is this--is this how thou repayest one who hath acted as a lamp in
thy darkness; thy Lode Star that hath led thee unto prosperity?" she
cried, with bitterness. "Of a truth herein thou showest--"
"Daughter, thou treatest the generous gift of thy Ruler with contempt,"
Hadj Absalam roared in anger.
"I utter no contemptuous words," she answered, resolutely calm. "Thou
hast conceived a plan to marry me against my will, because of what thou
art pleased to call my fair face. Verily, I tell thee that if thou
attemptest to force thine hateful favours upon me, my knife here shall
score mine own cheeks and render them hideous unto thy sight! Failing
that, I--I will kill myself!"
"Bah!" cried the Sheikh, impatiently tugging at his beard. "Thou lovest
the white-faced Roumi to whom we have given succour!"
"If he were killed, her objection would be removed," observed Labakan,
gesticulating with hands that were smeared and sticky with blood. His
cool suggestion was received with mingled approbation and dissent.
"Wouldst thou murder one who hath proved himself thy firm friend?"
Zoraida asked, her eye fixed upon the man who had already attempted to
assassinate me. Shrugging his shoulders, he showed his even white teeth
in a hideous grin, but made no reply.
"Vengeance cometh--vengeance just upon the faithless and those who
betray their friends. Their couch shall be in hell!" she continued.
"If thou forcest me to sacrifice my life, of a verity wilt thou deliver
the Lie unto Truth, and bring upon thee ruin and shame abiding. _Cama
tafakal kathalik tola ki_!" ["Such as you will do, so will you find."]
But the fierce, brutal murderers grouped around only laughed. Her
strange power over them seemed to have suddenly vanished, for, with her
uncovered face handsome in their eyes, there was, alas! a consensus of
opinion that she should become the chief wife of their chieftain! What
could I do to save her? Nothing. Glancing across at me with a look of
mute appeal, she stood silent, her hand upon the hilt of her knife. She
seemed deeply agitated, for though her lips moved, no sound escaped
them.
Again the half-witted brute who had urged the desirability of the
hateful union turned to his companions, asking: "Is it thy desire that
the Daughter of the Sun should be exalted and become our Queen of
Delights and the Light of our Darkness?"
"Thy words are truly words of wisdom!" his companions cried loudly, with
only two or three dissentients. "Our Ruler must take her as his wife."
The cruel face of Hadj Absalam broadened into a benign smile, while
Labakan's eyes glittered with murderous craftiness, as, with hands
tightly clasped and tears upon her beautiful cheeks, Zoraida made a
final desperate appeal--
"A moment ago didst thou vow loyalty unto me, my brothers. Yet even now
wilt thou force me into a loveless union that is distasteful--that--that
will cause me to seek death by mine own hand! If I have offended, cast
me from thee, but wreck not my happiness by an odious marriage! Ever
have I been unswervingly loyal unto thee, and He in whose hand is the
Kingdom of all Things will assuredly be swift in punishing those who
seek my self-destruction. Blessings are the lot of the pure and the
merciful. Force this not upon me, O my brothers! Hear and grant this
my most fervent supplication!"
There was silence. Fierce words in her defence were upon the tip of my
tongue, but--fortunately perhaps--I managed to suppress them.
"It is to-day, peradventure, too early to carry out my generous
proposal," Hadj Absalam observed, utterly unmoved by her appeal. "In
one moon shall I compel the Lalla Zoraida to become the Pearl of my
Harem."
"Thy will be accomplished, O Ruler of exalted merit," they answered.
But the woman I loved, hearing his decision, clasped her hands to her
temples, murmuring in dismay, "One moon! One moon!" and, taking two or
three quick, uneven steps, tottered forward and fell heavily upon her
face ere a hand could be outstretched to save her.
A dozen men rushed forth, I among the number. Water was given her
quickly, and in obedience to an order from the Sheikh she was carried
away, helpless and unconscious, to one of the apartments in the great
harem, which, alas! was now strewn with the corpses of its former
luxury-loving inmates. I dared not follow, so remained, to hear my
companions extolling the wisdom of Hadj Absalam's brutal decision.
Nauseated by the hideous sights of blood that everywhere met my gaze as
I wandered through the spacious courts so familiar to me, the afternoon
passed heavily. None of my companions, save the wounded, sought their
siesta; all were too absorbed in their work of plunder, bringing the
treasure they discovered before the Sheikh, who remained seated beneath
the royal canopy, so that he might inspect all that was found. Every
hole and corner of the spacious Fada was ransacked, and the pile of gold
and silver vessels, jewels, ornaments, and pearl-embroidered robes
swelled larger and larger, until it formed a heap that reached almost to
the painted ceiling of the pavilion. Backwards and forwards I passed
unnoticed, for all were now totally absorbed in their diligent search
for articles of value. My only thought was of Zoraida. The decree of
the cruel, heartless Sultan of the Sahara had gone forth, endorsed by
the decision of the people, and to rescue her from becoming an inmate of
the old brigand's harem seemed an impossibility.
An hour after sundown, as I was wandering through the wrecked Court of
the Eunuchs, revisiting the scene of those toilsome days of my slavery,
a veiled woman approached. Drawing aside her _adjar_, the bright,
smiling face of Halima was revealed. The women we had left outside the
city prior to the attack had already arrived, for in a few brief words
she told me that Zoraida had been placed under her care. Her mistress,
who had recovered from her faint, had expressed a desire to see me
immediately, therefore she had come in search of me.
"Enter the harem," she said. "Walk down the arcade on the right until
thou comest unto the third door. Push it open, and therein wilt thou
find our Daughter of the Sun."
I briefly thanked her, and, rearranging her veil, she strolled leisurely
away to avoid arousing suspicion. Within ten minutes I was speeding
along the arcade, gloomy in the darkening hour, and rendered ghastly by
the presence of the mutilated dead. My heart beat as if it would burst
its bonds. At the third door I halted, and, pushing it open, passed
through a kind of vestibule into a small thickly-carpeted apartment,
hung with rich silken hangings, and fragrant with sweet odours that rose
from a gold perfuming-pan.
From her soft, luxuriant divan, Zoraida, still in her masculine dress,
rose to meet me. She was pale, and her hand trembled, as for a few
moments we remained clasped in affectionate embrace, while I kissed her
in rapture, with many affectionate declarations of love.
"What must I do?" I asked breathless, at last. "How can I save thee?"
"By performing the mission thou hast promised," she answered, the
pressure of her hand tightening upon mine as she gazed into my eyes.
"That I will do most willingly," I said.
"Then lo! here is the Crescent of Glorious Wonders," she said, producing
that mysterious object from between the cushions of her divan, "and here
also is a letter to Mohammed ben Ishak. Deliver it, and learn the
Secret. Then canst thou extricate me from the danger that threateneth."
"But must I be absent from thee long?"
"I know not. Thy mission may perchance occupy thee many days."
"And in the meantime thou mayest be forced to become the wife of that
brute, Hadj Absalam!"
"Never!" she cried, setting her teeth. "I will kill myself!"
"Is it imperative that I should be absent from thy side in this the hour
of thy peril?" I asked, placing my arm tenderly around her neck and
drawing her closer towards me.
A flash of love-light gleamed on her sweet face.
"Yes. Seek the _imam_ to-night, ere it be too late. Whatever he
telleth thee, investigate at all cost. If thou art successful in
obtaining a revelation of the Wondrous Mystery, assuredly thou wilt save
me from a fate that I fear worse than the grave."
"Trust me, O Zoraida!" I answered, kissing her fervently, as I took the
Crescent and the scrap of paper, concealing them in my clothing. "On
leaving thee, I will not halt until I have found the holy man, and have
gained from him that knowledge which he alone can give. But what of
thee? While I am absent, thou wilt be friendless!"
"Allah, the One Merciful, all things discerneth; to us shall it be as He
willeth," she said, slowly raising my hand and pressing my fingers to
her lips.
"If thou art, alas! forced to become Queen of this kingdom of murderers!
If thou art--"
"I am a follower of the Faith, and place my trust in the Uniter of the
Lover and Beloved," she interrupted softly, clasping me in her clinging
arms. "By woman's wit I may perchance escape the hateful doom that Hadj
Absalam hath devised, under the advice of our enemy, Labakan; therefore
let the burdens of my peril be uplifted from thine heart. Seek the
director of those who tread the Path, and attend with faith and
minuteness unto his instructions."
"The thought that we may be for ever parted must fill me until my
return," I said. "But canst thou not fly with me, even now?"
"Alas! no," she answered gloomily. "Escape ere thou hast fathomed the
Great Mystery is impossible. I must abide in patience, overshadowed by
deadly peril and the dread thought that we may never meet again. But"--
and she hesitated--"tell me--answer me with thine own lips one question
I would address unto thee."
"What wouldst thou know?"
"Tell me," she said, burying her head upon my breast--"Tell me if thou
wilt forgive me for--for the awful massacre that hath to-day been
committed?"
"Forgive thee!" I cried, my kisses warming her waxen hands. "Of course
I do. Forced to occupy a strange position, thou canst not struggle
against thy fate, therefore the horrible butchery is due to neither plot
nor strategy of thine, but to the fierce avarice and brutal
bloodthirstiness of those who now prove themselves thine enemies."
"Ah! verily thou art generous!" she exclaimed, with tears in her
luminous eyes, around which dark rings were showing. "The life of
cities, as the life of men, is a vain and uncertain thing, and none
knoweth the weal or ill thereof, and none knoweth the end or the way of
the end, save only Allah. To thee I entrust my life. Go! seek the key
to the Great Mystery, the knife by which my bonds can only be severed.
I will fight to preserve mine honour until I die. I am thine until the
heavens shall be cloven in sunder, and the stars shall be scattered.
May Allah shadow thee in His shadow, and give unto thee strength to
perform in faithfulness thy covenant! May He bless and preserve thee,
and may He cause thee to drink from the cup of His Prophet, Mohammed,
that pleasant draught, after which there is no thirst to all eternity!
It is time, O Cecil! Go!"
"Farewell, my one beloved," I said, with a lingering kiss, as her fair
head still rested upon my breast. "May the One who sweepeth away
darkness guard thee and disappoint not thine hopes! Verily will I set
out upon this mission at once, for as steadfastly true thou art unto me,
so am I unto thee."
For a long time, as we stood in silence, I rained passionate kisses upon
her lips, cold as marble. She trembled, fearing the worst, yet,
gathering her strength in a supreme effort to preserve her self-control,
she at last pushed me from her with gentle firmness, saying--
"Hasten! Night draweth quickly on, and thou hast but little time to
spare. Hourly shall I think of thee until thou returnest with the glad
tidings. _Slama_! Allah knoweth the innermost parts of the breasts of
men. May His mercy and His bounteous blessing be upon thee!"
"Verily He is Praised and Mighty!" I responded. Then, with a long kiss
of farewell, I breathed a few whispered words of passion into her ear,
and, promising to return at the earliest moment, I released her supple
form from my embrace, and, stumbling blindly out, left her standing,
pale, friendless, and alone.
Devoutly-murmured words of a fervent prayer fell upon my ears as I
turned from her presence, but I halted not, striding onward--onward in
search of the knowledge and elucidation of the Great Mystery, onward to
an unknown, undreamed-of bourne.